Daily Crypto Roundup: Strategy Rebounds as AI Bubble Fuels $1M Bitcoin Prediction

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Welcome back to the Daily Crypto Roundup. Bitcoin is holding above $64,000. Strategy's high-yield preferred stock has rebounded more than 30%, and one of the biggest self-custody failures in recent memory may now push more investors toward regulated Bitcoin products. But the biggest claim today comes from Arthur Hayes, who says an AI credit bubble could eventually trigger a bailout large enough to drive Bitcoin toward $1 million.
Welcome back to Crypto News Today and your daily crypto roundup for Wednesday, August 5th. Today we are breaking down why Strategy has started selling small amounts of Bitcoin while building a $4 billion cash reserve. Why Wall Street believes the cold card exploit could benefit Bitcoin exchange traded funds and major custodians. What Arthur Hayes thinks will cause the next enormous wave of money printing. And why Ondo Finance has recruited a former blockchain.com Chief Financial Officer as tokenized assets move deeper into traditional finance. Starting with the market, Bitcoin is trading at approximately $64,700, up just over 1% across the past 24 hours. Ethereum is around $1,912, gaining roughly 2.4%.
XRP is sitting near $1.07 and is slightly lower on the day. BNB is close to $600, Solana is around $74.50, Cardano is near $0.19, and Hyperliquid is one of the stronger, larger assets at approximately $57.90 after gaining close to 4%.
The market is positive, but it still lacks a convincing breakout. Bitcoin has spent weeks holding above $60,000 without producing a decisive move through $65,000.
Market maker Wintermute said that even with approximately $211 million flowing into spot Bitcoin exchange traded funds, the marginal buyer still appears hesitant. Implied volatility is also compressed, suggesting traders are not currently positioned for an explosive move. Before we continue, a quick word from Kraken. Kraken provides a well-established platform for buying, selling and trading crypto, and using our link in the description helps support Crypto News Today. Listeners who sign up using our link are eligible for 20 XRP from ourselves. Just message us once it's done. This is not financial advice, and crypto trading involves a risk of loss. Always research every asset and never invest money you cannot afford to lose. Our first major story concerns Strategy and its perpetual preferred stock known as Stretch or STRC.
STRC is trading close to $94 after climbing more than 30% from its late June low of approximately $71.
That recovery matters because the security is designed around a stated value of $100 and currently carries an annualized dividend rate of 12%.
Strategy has been actively supporting the recovery. The company has repurchased approximately $106 million of STRC and has authorized a repurchase program worth up to $975 million.
It has also increased its United States dollar reserve to $4 billion after adding another $250 million this week. According to the company's figures, that reserve provides around 2.3 years of dividend coverage across its preferred securities, the controversial part is how Strategy has partly funded this stronger position. Across three transactions, the company sold 5,226 Bitcoin for approximately $321 million, reducing its total holdings from 847,363 Bitcoin to about 842,137.
For years, Michael Saylor's public message was that Bitcoin should be accumulated and held for the long term. Selling any amount, therefore, attracts immediate attention. However, Strategy has not abandoned its Bitcoin Treasury model. It still holds more than 842,000 Bitcoin. The sales appear designed to show that the Treasury can be used strategically to meet obligations, protect the company's funding structure, and reassure investors that dividend payments are sustainable. That may strengthen Strategy's wider model. If investors believe it can convert a controlled portion of its Bitcoin into cash when required, its preferred securities may look less fragile during a downturn. The risk is that repeated sales could create uncertainty over whether Bitcoin is truly the permanent reserve asset the company once presented it as. For now, the amount sold is small relative to the overall Treasury, and STRC's rebound suggests investors have welcomed the decision. The second story is Arthur Hayes and his prediction that the AI boom could eventually provide Bitcoin with its path to $1 million.
Hayes argues that the AI boom is being misunderstood. Rather than comparing it with the.com bubble of 2000, he believes it resembles the credit bubble that produced the 2008 financial crisis. Technology companies and data center operators are spending extraordinary amounts on land, power infrastructure, chips and computing capacity. Much of that expansion depends on financing, while the chips inside those facilities depreciate rapidly and require constant replacement. His theory is that lenders are treating AI infrastructure as if they are financing durable real estate, when much of its value depends on technology that can become obsolete quickly. Hayes expects announced capital expenditure to stop accelerating around late 2027 or 2028 Credit could continue flowing after that, but he believes the weakest borrowers would eventually fail, exposing the institutions that finance them. Hayes then expects the United States and China to treat AI infrastructure as strategically essential. Rather than allowing a full collapse, governments could rescue lenders and major projects with guarantees, liquidity programs and newly created money. In his view, the resulting currency debasement would be larger than the response to the 2008 crisis, helping Bitcoin find a bottom and eventually move toward one million dollars. The mechanism is more important than the headline. Hayes is not saying Bitcoin rises simply because artificial intelligence becomes popular. He is saying excessive AI debt eventually breaks, governments print money to contain the damage, and Bitcoin benefits as investors search for an asset with a fixed supply.